It's really about the people...

Several times while I've been shopping in my local groceries and deli's I have been approached for my opinion and given unsolicited advice. Today, a lady asked me to reach a box of cake mix for her because I was a little taller than she was. That was different. She then asked me if she would be able to use sunflower oil instead of vegetable oil. I said I didn't know, but that if I were her, I'd go with the vegetable oil. Then she was going to put the mix back because she didn't have an electric mixer. I advised her to just use a whip, and she said that made sense. So there... in a moment we had made a connection. Before we had gone on our ways, an older gentleman approached us and told us about smaller box mixes at another store that were on sale at a good price. He was a nice man. When Jesse was here a man told us about where to find the best prices on milk. It's as though everyone is watching out for each other and how to save the most money on groceries. I just found that very interesting.

Tomorrow there is a staff party. I am looking forward to that. I have participated in the secret Santa group this year. I've recieved fruit, chocolate, a spreading knife, and a lottery ticket. How fun. I've given, some potpourri, fruit, a chocolate chip cookie (big one), and a small candle. We reveal our Santa's a the holiday party.

I'm quite sad this weekend. One of my Aunt's passed away quite suddenly. Her daughters are the closest in age as I am and as we grew up together, they were close to me as an Aunt and Uncle. It is my mom's sister-in-law. She was a great person on this earth. I especially enjoyed listening to her tell stories about her family. She knew how to tell a story with just the right amount of detail. Not too many details, but enough so that I could picture everything. I love her a great deal. I worry about my Uncle, in that he had just come home from the hospital on Friday the 5th from surgery on an anurism. It will be a difficult Christmas for our family. She was an amazing, strong, beautiful woman.

Looking Forward

I am proud. Proud to be a teacher in New York City's public school system. Proud to be the teacher that is straight and honest with my students. They sometime want to get me to kid around and tell a lie to another student. I don't go along. I won't lie. The kids don't understand this. They think kidding and lying is acceptable and the right thing to do. It doesn't sit well with me. I think that Georgia and I talked about this idea frequently. It isn't okay with me to lie so that it's fun for the liar but not fun to the person being lied to. Just a thing I have.

This week will be crazy. The kids are getting spun up because of Christmas. Most of my students are Christian and a large amount of them are Catholic from Pueto Rico or the Dominican Republic. I do have a few girls that where head scarves, I think that means they are Muslim. (guess I should find out). I have to teach multiplying and dividing fractions this week.

I also took care of some business here in the city. I took care of filing paper work so that the city gave me 8 years of credit for my previous experience from work. This helps out quite a bit in the pay scale. That feels good.

What I am especially looking forward to is a gathering in Berkshire of some friends over the holidays. And... this Friday I am going home to spend time with Scott and to finish the holiday shopping.

We did a project on fractions. More to come later.

Things I want to Remember

I want to remember the rider on the train who was sketching. He sat across from me and sketched the young man sitting next to me. The young man sitting next to me was sleeping on the morning commute train. He never knew that he had been sketched. The artist drew with a fountain pen and had to change the ink in the pen while he sketched. We rode like this, him sketching, one sleeping and me observing, for over 20 minutes on the number 2 train. I remember that his fingertips were black from ink. Not completely black, but just dark around his fingernail base. It completely looked like the fingers of Will Shakespeare in Shakespeare in Love. I just want to remember that moment in my time here. The invisibility people have in a city of millions.

On the same morning I made eye contact with a rider that returned the eye contact. It's really interesting how in a city of millions and the hundreds of people that I see in a day, there are only about 15 people in NYCity that I talk with. People at work and people at school. Note that I don't see everyone at school everyday. So it was just a day of realizing how alone I really am in this city with so many people.

I want to remember that I broke up a "fight" this week. Actually the one girl whom I've mentioned more than once (the thief and liar) was hitting another student. She had him cornered. And... she's 3/4 ths this boy's size and I saw 3 hard punches delivered by her to his chest. I took her (she's quite a bit smaller than I am and she has a respect for me) and took her arm and lead her to the office, where I placed her on the couch. I also told the staff in the office that she did not belong in the school. She ended up in In School Suspension today.

Lots of stories... lots. too many to write.

However, I need to spend some time grading papers and don't have time to write this any further tonight. Good Night!

Two degrees from President-Elect Obama

I will be only two degrees removed from the Inaugural Ball in January. A dear friends son will be attending the ball and all of the festivities. The son is married to a personal friend of the Biden family. I thought that was exciting.

Teaching and being tired...

I realized today that I was tired. I was tired enough to sit down in the front of the classroom. I had trouble finding words, I was tired. I taught four periods in a row as I do on every Thursday. By the last period, I felt my energy level drop. I did have coffee in my coffee cup, so I drank that while I taught. My lesson was good.

My students were very "excited" to do fractions. Since when do middle school students enjoy fractions? What really happened was... I told my 6th grade students that fractions were my favorite part of math. Since they like me, they want to like things that I like. So, since I told them I liked fractions, they decided that they too would like fractions.

Teaching fractions are one of the easier things for me to teach. My class at Pace University has been preparing me for these lessons. My students are working on a project and we have a kit of fraction pieces that they made. These kits tend to help them understand some concrete things about fractions.

Off to bed again.